More than three-quarters of doctors believe in God

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/doctors_...PnVJRIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Thought this was interesting....

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The majority of doctors believe in God and attend religious services, and more than half say their religious beliefs affect how they practice medicine, according to new survey results.


Study author Dr. Farr A. Curlin of the University of Chicago in Illinois said he was "surprised" at the findings, given that previous studies have shown that scientists are less religious than the general population, and religious beliefs tend to diminish as education and income levels increase.

However, the field of medicine involves caring for others, and therefore may attract spiritual people, Curlin said. "Medicine, at its core, is a moral practice," he noted.

For the study, Curlin and his colleagues mailed surveys about religious beliefs to 2,000 doctors practicing in the U.S. Sixty-three percent of doctors returned the survey.

Seventy-six percent said they believed in God, and 90 percent attended religious services at least sometimes, similar to rates reported by the general population. Fifty-five percent of respondents said that their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine, the researchers note in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Doctors were more likely than people in the general population to say they are spiritual but not religious, and to make decisions without relying on God, the survey found.

In an interview, Curlin said he suspected that religious beliefs may influence doctors when they encounter issues related to sexual and reproductive health, and when treating patients who are facing death, such as in end-of-life care.

In addition, doctors who are religious may respond differently to people who are depressed, or dealing with chronic pain, "if they make sense of that human experience in religious terms," Curlin suggested.

He added that he and his colleagues are currently investigating how doctors' religious beliefs may be influencing their practice.

 

i dunno about that study's methodology.

with 63% of doctors not responding (and not responding likely being an indication of belief), i don't think you can say that 75% of doctors believe in god. i think you can say that 47% believe in god, 16% don't, and 37% didn't wish to respond.

 

Valid point.

 

i think some doctors have a god complex. but i guess if you save enough lives, you can't help but feel like a superior being.

builder brought up an interesting point the other week about doctors and diseases that i think fits in this thread. we were talking about AIDS and builder said that if doctors would've let the people with AIDS back in the early 80s die, the disease would've died with them and we wouldn't have lost so many through the years. i've thought of cancer in those terms as well. there is too much money to be made from cancer that finding a cure would empty lots of pockets of doctors.

cynical? probably. but who's to say it's not true and ties in with the doctor-god thing?

 

I've thought about that thing with AIDS and did back in the 80's. It's sad but true.
And your thinking is cynical, but I believe we all have a right to be cynical, I surely am.

 

Wow. I wish the docs in the '80's could have saved my friends. At least they didn't cut down on anyones fun for too long.

 

me too, bv. i miss my friends dearly and think of them often. they died prolonged, horrible deaths.